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In this paper we consider a scenario where there are several algorithms for solving a given problem. Each algorithm is associated with a probability of success and a cost, and there is also a penalty for failing to solve the problem. The…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-08-11 Shlomo Moran , Irad Yavneh

There are $n$ independent Bernoulli random variables $I_{k}$ with parameters $p_{k}$ that are observed sequentially. We consider a generalization of the Last-Success-Problem considering $w_{k}$ positive payments if the player successfully…

Probability · Mathematics 2018-12-24 Jose Maria Grau ribas

We present a quantum protocol for the task of weak coin flipping. We find that, for one choice of parameters in the protocol, the maximum probability of a dishonest party winning the coin flip if the other party is honest is 1/sqrt(2). We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2009-11-07 R. W. Spekkens , Terry Rudolph

We consider a randomized algorithm for the unique games problem, using independent multinomial probabilities to assign labels to the vertices of a graph. The expected value of the solution obtained by the algorithm is expressed as a…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2015-08-10 Rajeev Kohli , Ramesh Krishnamurti

Quantization for a probability distribution refers to the idea of estimating a given probability by a discrete probability supported by a finite number of points. In this paper, firstly a general approach to this process is outlined using…

Probability · Mathematics 2022-01-26 Joseph Rosenblatt , Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

We consider election scenarios with incomplete information, a situation that arises often in practice. There are several models of incomplete information and accordingly, different notions of outcomes of such elections. In one well-studied…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2016-10-27 Palash Dey , Neeldhara Misra

We consider a problem introduced by Mossel and Ross [Shotgun assembly of labeled graphs, arXiv:1504.07682]. Suppose a random $n\times n$ jigsaw puzzle is constructed by independently and uniformly choosing the shape of each "jig" from $q$…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-03-27 Anders Martinsson

Team captains Alice and Bob divide up $2m$ footballers, each reduced to a real-valued score, into two teams of $m$ footballers each. On each turn, one captain plays picker, and the other chooser: the picker names a footballer yet to be…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-06 Bhargav Narayanan

This paper compares three approaches to the problem of selecting among probability models to fit data (1) use of statistical criteria such as Akaike's information criterion and Schwarz's "Bayesian information criterion," (2) maximization of…

Methodology · Statistics 2016-11-04 William B. Poland , Ross D. Shachter

A user, Alice, wants to get server Bob to implement a quantum computation for her. However, she wants to leave him blind to what she's doing. What are the minimal communication resources Alice must use in order to achieve…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-10-21 Ethan Davies , Alastair Kay

We consider the weakly supervised binary classification problem where the labels are randomly flipped with probability $1- {\alpha}$. Although there exist numerous algorithms for this problem, it remains theoretically unexplored how the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-07-16 Xinyang Yi , Zhaoran Wang , Zhuoran Yang , Constantine Caramanis , Han Liu

Given a probability distribution ${\bf p} = (p_1, \dots, p_n)$ and an integer $1\leq m < n$, we say that ${\bf q} = (q_1, \dots, q_m)$ is a contiguous $m$-aggregation of ${\bf p}$ if there exist indices $0=i_0 < i_1 < \cdots < i_{m-1} < i_m…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2018-05-16 Ferdinando Cicalese , Ugo Vaccaro

Assume $n$ players are placed on the $n$ vertices of a graph $G$. The following game was introduced by Winkler: An adversary puts a hat on each player, where each hat has a colour out of $q$ available colours. The players can see the hat of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-12-20 Charlotte Knierim , Anders Martinsson , Raphael Steiner

We study a random game in which two players in turn play a fixed number of moves. For each move, there are two possible choices. To each possible outcome of the game we assign a winner in an i.i.d. fashion with a fixed parameter p. In the…

Probability · Mathematics 2024-09-05 Natalia Cardona-Tobón , Anja Sturm , Jan M. Swart

This note considers a variation of the full-information secretary problem where the random variables to be observed are independent and identically distributed. Consider $X_1,\dots,X_n$ to be an independent sequence of random variables, let…

Probability · Mathematics 2017-09-11 José A. Islas

We introduce a class of normal play partizan games, called Complementary Subtraction. Let $A$ denote your favorite set of positive integers. This is Left's subtraction set, whereas Right subtracts numbers not in $A$. The Golden Nugget…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-10-27 Urban Larsson , Neil A. McKay , Richard J. Nowakowski , Angela A. Siegel

This contribution deals with a two-level discrete decision problem, a so-called Stackelberg strategic game: A Subset Sum setting is addressed with a set $N$ of items with given integer weights. One distinguished player, the leader, may…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2018-01-12 Ulrich Pferschy , Gaia Nicosia , Andrea Pacifici

In exploratory factor analysis, model parameters are usually estimated by maximum likelihood method. The maximum likelihood estimate is obtained by solving a complicated multivariate algebraic equation. Since the solution to the equation is…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2026-01-14 Ryoya Fukasaku , Kei Hirose , Yutaro Kabata , Keisuke Teramoto

Consider a coin tossing experiment which consists of tossing one of two coins at a time, according to a renewal process. The first coin is fair and the second has probability $1/2 + \theta$, $\theta \in [-1/2,1/2]$, $\theta$ unknown but…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-03-25 Diego Marcondes , Cláudia Peixoto

We prove an explicit upper bound on the amount of entanglement required by any strategy in a two-player cooperative game with classical questions and quantum answers. Specifically, we show that every strategy for a game with n-bit questions…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2009-09-03 Gus Gutoski